I solicited responses from hospitality professionals to
weigh in on what they felt were the Top 10 Reasons Why Hotels Underperform and decided
to share
some ideas that can help hotel owners and their GMs reverse these
trends and become
a more profitable and productive hotel.

#1 — Poor hiring practices

Christine Lagorio in her article “How to Improve Your Hiring Practices“, suggests
that the
best way to plot out hiring a new employee starts with a well crafted,
future-oriented job description, which can be the single step that
begins the
hiring process – and makes it simpler, from start to finish.

Jane Plank with Ross,
Brittain, & Schonberg Co., L.P.A says “Hiring the wrong person
not only
causes morale problems, decreases productivity and wastes time, it
costs a lot
of money. The average cost per hire in the United States ranges from
$2,546 to
$6,943. Contained in these costs are productivity and vacancy rate
costs, lost
time for employees who conduct the search and screen and interview the
client,
the cost for advertising for employees, materials costs, and downtime
for two
employees during the orientation and training period”.

In a survey of 2,696 employers, conducted by
Careerbuilder, the following are just some of the
examples
that employers experienced from bad hires:

41% – Less productive

40% – Lost time to recruit and
train another worker

37% – Cost to recruit and train
another worker

36% – Employee morale negatively
affected

22% – Negative impact on client
solutions

Contrary to popular belief, money isn’t the only thing
that motivates people, the 9 keys to motivating them are:

Culture – how candidates feel they will fit in

Reputation – how you are perceived as an employer

Stability – how long established is the organization

Flexibility – work/life balance issues

Money – a pay raise or bonus

Development – training and opportunities to learn

Challenge – new role, more responsibility

Team – similar outlook and age

Technology – more up-to-date systems, exposure to better
technology

If and when you’re ready to hire but not in the position to
offer top-tier salaries, consider what else your hotel has to offer and
which
sorts of candidates can benefit. Do play up anything that makes your
hotel and
your corporate culture stand out, and make it known in the job listing.

#2 — Lack of training

We all are aware that hotel budgets have
been trimmed to the
bone and one of the first things that gets cut is training.
Unfortunately,
trained and energized employees are just what a hotel needs to
stimulate growth
and solve problems in the lean times. Training clarifies job
performance
expectations, establishes goal measurements, creates consistency among
the
team’s execution, and increases productivity.

Employees are interested in performing their
jobs well, feel
a sense of pride for a job well done, and to advance to higher
positions. When
there is little to no training, employees do not understand how to do
their
jobs and none of these goals are possible. This leads to low morale
among
workers, which results in employee turnover. A hotel with a reputation
for high
employee turnover is also unattractive to potential job candidates.

Untrained employees lack adequate knowledge
and skills to
provide satisfactory customer service and this will ultimately result
in a
dissatisfied guest. The hotel will expose itself to declining sales if
dissatisfied guests choose competitors who can provide better service.

Lack of training is a sure fire way to
provide a quick exit
strategy for the under trained employee. It is estimated that it costs
$7,00.00
to replace one $30,000.00 a year employee when all costs — recruiting,
interviewing, hiring, training, reduced productivity, et cetera, were
considered. SHRM’s estimate was the lowest of 17 nationally respected
companies
who calculate this cost!

#3 — Little to no regard for the customer
and their
complaints

At one time or another you or your staff
will have to handle
a guest complaint on property. Your challenge is to take care of the
situation in
a way that leaves the guest thinking that you genuinely care about him
but in
order to do this successfully, you’ll need to have a “Complaint Management Strategy” in place.

Without a complaint strategy in place, your
more apt to
mishandle the complaint and there’s a good chance that guest will let
others
know, online and offline, about their experience at your hotel
(TripAdvisor is
a great case in point). Let’s assume for a minute that guest tells 10
friends
about his experience. If you know the estimated annual value of one
guest, then
multiply it by 10 in order to arrive at the potential loss in revenue
to your
hotel. Now multiply that potential loss of revenue by three to
represent the
cost to replace the real and potential guest.

#4 — Management unwilling to empower
staff with problem
resolution

In his keynote speech to the Stanford
Graduate School of
Business Entrepreneurship Conference, Isadore Sharp, the founder,
chairman, and
CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts said that when the company
expanded
about 30 years ago, it made its credo more explicit: Workers should
treat
others the way they would like to be treated.

That meant firing senior managers who
weren’t following the
credo. “If we’re seen showing greater concern for power, prestige, and
costs
than for the customer and the values we profess, then we forfeit belief
and
trust along with our goal of trying to be the best.”

If you want all of your guests to be
satisfied, it has to be
left to the people interacting with them to decide how that is done.
And that
means empowering them to be able to make real decisions.

#5 — Hotels don’t understand how to
market themselves
across all channels

According to Vanessa Horwell, Founder and Chief Visibility
Officer,
ThinkInk & Travelink’d, “There are several ways to market your
hotel for
future success without compromising the pressing needs of today. In
many cases,
these tactics don’t even involve large financial investments, but
rather rely
upon a focus on multiyear aims; good analysis of markets, customers,
strengths
and weaknesses; the utilization of emerging technologies; and a strong
brand
identity”.

Define your audience, segment it
in terms of demographics, and target them with relevant messaging.

Social media and the mobile web
have become crucial standalone marketing channels in their own right.

The trick for hotel marketers is
to find the value inherent to the property’s operation and to then
define the property’s value proposition succinctly.

Unilateral communication, the
fundamental milieu of mass media, has given way to a more interactive,
multilateral ecosystem, the most visible example of which is social
media.

The irony — and beauty — of Twitter is that
it is incredibly
straightforward and incredibly complex.

Unlike space-limited tweets or
interactive social media sites, blogs offer a way for hotel marketers
to deliver their messages without the interference of customer
interaction.

Search engine optimization must
be a key component of a long-term marketing strategy (the
implementation of which will certainly have a positive short-term
effect as well), and maintaining positive consumer reviews should be
the most prominent objective of all facets of a hotel’s operation (not
just the marketing efforts).

Opening a dialogue with existing
guests, either through social media, loyalty programs, or other
touchpoints, will open the doors to a wealth of usable information on
which to base an effective marketing push.

Have I missed anything that you think should
be included in
these five solutions? Feel free to share your thoughts!